While it came as a great relief to see the Office of Hawaiian Affairs jettison ambitions for media ownership, its search for ways to improve communications within and about the Hawaiian community should continue.

Oswald Stender, an OHA trustee, has said the initiative to purchase KGMB-TV arose from a desire to "get our message out," as well as to grow the Native Hawaiian trust fund through a profitable investment and to create job training opportunities for Hawaiians.

Even if one sets aside the troubling legal and philosophical issues of mixing politics with media ownership, purchasing a station would not offer a cost-effective means of achieving those goals.

The agency should concentrate on refining the message, rather than owning the medium. As the recent experience with the federal recognition initiative demonstrated, divisions on that issue are deep even among Hawaiians, and it's a difficult concept to sell in Washington if the community itself can't agree.

Where there is common ground, however, is on the desire to form a political body, leaving the question of federal recognition for the future. There have been efforts in the past to accomplish that, such as the 1999 Ha Hawai'i elections of delegates to a kind of constitutional convention. The effort ran out of money — and steam. But with its resources OHA could see that a renewed effort at organizing is better sustained.

OHA has already resolved to turn its attention toward a Native Hawaiian registry. Thus far, only a small percentage of the Hawaiian population has signed up. Turning up the heat beneath this campaign should be a key focus for the elected OHA board.

If Hawai'i's indigenous people want to make the case that they are a political entity, identification and commitment to a common purpose is essential — and a far better occupation for OHA than running a TV station.